Snake Song
by DaesayAndJaya
Summary: Laedin is the misunderstood serpentine familiar of Jaya, a meister at the School that they are trained at. Laedin's power makes him an outcast, feared by the others. Jaya is the only person not afraid of him, and the only person he will listen to. Is Jaya's support enough, or will he finally be pushed over the edge? Reviews appreciated!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
Laedin's POV  
It was cold and the gray. There was no color, no life. I was hurt and hiding, though I didn't know what from. The pain blinded me, but suddenly, it grew worse. I was being pulled away, but by something I couldn't see. I panicked.

Jaya's POV  
Today was the summoning day, the day each of us young meisters-in-training would summon our familiar. We all knew the process of summoning, the abilities of various familiar types, and why we were doing this. It had been drilled into our heads from the day we came to the School.  
We were here because we had been chosen. The assessors had come to my school in hopes of finding a potential meister. Each of us were tested, our physical, mental, and emotional health reduced to numbers on a page. The most fit- the one with the highest total of marks on their paper- was chosen. I was the one they took. I, along with 20 other 12 year olds from various places, was taken to the School, where we were to continue our learning. However, along with normal classes like history and math, we also took things like self-defense and hand-to-hand combat. It was all to prepare us for our future as a meister, the highest in power and skill of any of the fighting units utilized by the government. However, meisters aren't- can't be- totally under government control. With their familiar, they are too powerful for any normal human to control.  
A familiar is what will be a meister's weapon, ally, and best friend. They initially appear as an animal-like creature, but can transform into a human form. They develop a close bond with their meister, and would be willing to die for them. They usually have three forms: human, animal, and attack, which is basically a larger version of animal. Some prefer to stay a human most of the time, while others prefer animal. They almost always keep an animalistic trait in human form though, be it wings or a tail or horns or sharp teeth. You never knew until you summoned them what they would be, but two things were certain: they were always the same age as the meister, and would never appear as a human first.  
Today was the day. Today, we would get our familiar. Everyone was nervous, fidgeting. The process was simple enough, as all we had to do was draw two circles, one inside the other, then fill the space between them with whatever we wanted (words, numbers, designs, etc.) and draw a design or picture in the middle. We were handed our chalk and given thirty minutes.  
~~~ le awesome time skip ~~~  
I was done a few minutes before the timer went off, so I took the time to study my work. My circle was about eight feet in diameter, with the inner circle about seven. The design between them was hard to follow, a coiling, twisting pattern with no definite beginning or end. The design in the middle was a swirling serpent. I looked over at some of the others. I saw a wing, a tree, a snowflake, and something that looked like an upside down ice cream with a mouse on top of it. Finally, the timer went off. People put their chalk in the bucket that was passed around and waited to begin. As the ceremonial knife was handed to a boy at the front of the line, and I realized that I was at the end. I would summon last. The boy made a small cut in his palm and dripped the blood onto the circle. He seemed to enter a trance as he spoke the words that would call his familiar from whatever place they came from. As he finished, the white lines began to glow, and a shimmering light was cast up about four feet into the air. When it dissipated, a small cat-like thing was in its place. To be honest, I expected a familiar to look a little more threatening. It was dark purple with a split tail and large ruff. It then smoothly shifted into a slim, pale girl in a simple white dress with dark purple hair and cat ears. We were all in awe, as I don't think any of us believed that something would actually happen. Then she spoke.  
"My name is Umbra." She was quiet, but her voice carried. They were instructed to stand by the other teacher that was relaxing in the shade of one of the many trees that dotted the schoolyard. As she walked away, I noticed her split tail trailing behind her.  
The knife was handed to the next, a girl. She went through the same process as the boy, only this time, a small, teal otter with a mermaid-like tail was left behind. The process repeated, each producing similar results, though with some very different creatures that transformed into very strange humans. I saw people with tails, fins, claws, fur, fangs, and much more, ranging from black to white and everything in between.  
Finally, the knife was placed in my hand. It was heavy and made of a stone-like material, but I knew it was razor sharp. I held my hand out perpendicular to the ground and drew the blade across my hand. As the drops hit the soil, I felt my eyes glaze over and grow heavy, like the moment before you shut your eyes to go to sleep. Then, I began to speak, but not in my own language. It came out as a series of whispering hisses and soft cough-like noises. When I finished, I snapped out of my stupor. My circle began to glow, but the light it threw off went much higher into the air, at least 8 feet above my head. Soon, the light grew blinding, and I had to turn away. When I turned back, I was not greeted by a pair of friendly, bright eyes attached to a brightly colored familiar. The eyes were bright enough- sky blue- but pupil-less, and attached to a silver snake. A 50-foot-long silver snake. A very, very angry-looking silver snake. And it was looking right at me.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
Jaya's P.O.V.  
I realized what was happening and leapt out of the way as the serpent struck. Its head rammed into the ground where I had been standing only seconds before, leaving a small crater. It reared its head back and shrieked. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard mixed with hurricane winds. It was as big around as I was, if not bigger, and raised up at least 10 feet above my head. I could see fangs as long as my forearm in its mouth. Then, I noticed something else: a huge, bleeding gash on its side. I leapt away as it struck again. It reared back and shrieked again, and I knew I had no choice. If I didn't do something drastic, I was never going to have a chance. I ran forward and rammed my body into the wound.  
It was like a switch; the snake went silent and froze. I backed up and watched the scene. It fell over slowly and lay on the ground, then began to shrink. As it shrank, it transformed. It took 30 seconds for the process to unfold, and when it was over, a silver-haired boy in a white t-shirt and blue jeans was lying curled up on the ground just 5 feet from me. He made no sounds, but he was clutching his stomach. I saw blood oozing between his fingers and trailing down his arms to the ground. His eyes were squeezed shut.  
I turned to the class, now 40 strong, and the two teachers. They were all staring, wide-eyed.  
"Um, help!" I said. No one moved. '_Lets try this again_,' I thought. "HELP!" I screamed. That seemed to snap them out of it. One teacher started shepherding the students toward the dorm, and the other ran over to the boy and me. He knelt next to him and placed a hand on his forehead. He muttered a few words and the boy's face went slack, his arms dropping and revealing the extent of the wound. It was at least a foot long, three inches wide at the widest, and ran diagonally from the bottom of his ribs to his belly button. He picked him up and began running toward the infirmary, a large building that was a 15 minute walk from the dorms. I looked around, sighed, and ran to catch up with my familiar.

~~~ le awesome time skip (again)~~~  
I was in the waiting room for an hour. My bloodstained jacket was slung across the seat next to me, and i had just finished a Twix from the vending machine. Finally, around five o'clock, a nurse came out.  
"He's in stable condition," she said before I could ask. "The wound was pretty bad, but he should be fine."  
"Then can I see him?" I asked.  
"He's asleep right now," she replied. "We don't expect him to wake up for another few hours, so you should go back to the dorms, get some rest, and come back bright and early tomorrow."  
"Alright," I said. I stood up and began walking toward the door when a familiar- sounding shriek echoed through the halls. Suddenly, the nurse's pager went off. She looked at it, then turned to me.  
"It's him, isn't it?" I asked. She nodded. We raced away down the maze of corridors.

Laedin's POV  
The first thing I noticed was the smell. This place smelled sterile, and dangerous. The second thing I noticed was the pain. It was centered on my abdomen, but I hurt other places, too. There was a small, sharp pain in my right arm, and my forehead was throbbing like it had been hit with a baseball bat. The third thing I noticed, once I opened my eyes, was the light. It was directly above me, and so bright it hurt. I blinked rapidly as my eyes adjusted. I tried to push myself up, but the pain was too much, and I collapsed back down. I looked around; I was in a small room, with a door on the far side. I could see people moving around through the small rectangular window on the door, but no one seemed to notice me. Then the door opened, and a man in a white coat stepped in. He smelled sterile, too.  
"Oh! You're awake!" He said, approaching me. I tried to growl, but my throat was dry. He reached for my head. I snapped at his hand, breaking the skin.  
"Ow!" He yelled, jerking back. He reached for me again, and I grabbed his hand and bit down on his arm. Hard.  
"Ah! Ow!" He yelled. "Nurse! A little help!" He tried yanking his arm away, which resulted in some long gashes. I still had his hand though, and I reached and grabbed his arm with my other hand. Suddenly, another sterile-smelling person came in. She saw the scene, with me clawing gashes down the man's arm and the man trying to hold me down, and cursed.  
"Page for some backup!" she yelled at a passing woman as she ran in to try and hold me down, too. Then, the man accidentally elbowed me in the abdomen. My vision went blurry around the edges, and I let loose a bloodcurdling scream. The woman tried to hold down one arm, but I bit her.  
"Someone get some sedatives!" the woman yelled. Then, another sterile smelling woman came in, but she was followed by a young girl, about my age. She didn't smell sterile like the others; she smelled real, like trees and grass and soil. I don't know why, but I felt like I could trust her.  
"HELP!" I screamed, but the man held my head down and cut me off. Then, an ear-splitting whistle rang through the air.  
"Stop!" The girl yelled. "Let him go! He's my familiar! I can control him!" I was still struggling, but slowly, one by one, the people let go of me. When they were all off of me, I lay still in the bed, panting. The pain was horrible, ripping through my torso.  
"Leave me here with him. I need to talk to him," the girl said.  
"Are you sure?" the man asked.  
The girl sighed. "Yes, I'm sure. I can handle him."  
The man looked skeptical, but filed out with the two women.  
As soon as the door shut, the girl collapsed on a chair near the bed and rubbed her eyes. She was wearing a black-and-white striped t-shirt and blue jeans. Her hair was wavy and black. She pulled her hands from her face and looked at me with storm gray eyes.  
"So... What's your name?" She asked  
"Laedin," I replied.  
"I'm Jaya."  
"Well then, Jaya, would you care to tell me what the heck is going on?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
Jaya's POV  
"That's kinda hard to answer." I paused to look at the clock. It read 5:15. "How about something more specific?"  
He looked away to think for a few seconds, then turned back. "Where am I?"  
"The School," I replied. "More specifically, the School's infirmary. Even more specifically, room 119 of the school's infirmary."  
"Why am I in the infirmary?" He asked.  
"I would think it had something to do with the giant gash on your belly," I replied.  
"Oh. Who were those people?" He asked.  
"The man was a doctor; the women were nurses."  
"What were they doing?"  
"Well, I'm guessing the doctor came in to check on you, and you attacked him," I said. "Then, the nurses came in and you kind of attacked them too."  
He looked away.  
"I thought they were going to hurt me," he said quietly.  
"Speaking of which," I began, "how are you feeling?"  
"Like I have a big gash in my belly," he replied. I rolled my eyes.  
"Wait till they have to change the bandages," I muttered  
"What's the school?" He asked.  
"It's where people like you and me are trained." I replied.  
"Trained for what?" he asked.  
"Let be start at the beginning," I said. "Every 4 years, children from surrounding schools are assessed, and the ones that score the highest are sent here to continue their education, but also take classes like hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship. It is all to train us for our future as a meister and familiar team, where we will work in special units for the government, like assassination squads and situations too dangerous for regular people," I said,basically quoting what I had been told the entire time I had been at the school. He looked at me with wide blue eyes, and I noticed his pupils were slits, like a snake. After that, he had plenty of questions, so I spent the next hour explaining the school to him. Every once and a while, I saw the doctor or a nurse look in the small door window. I pretended not to notice. Finally, at about 6:30, a nurse came in. She wasn't one of the ones that had tried to hold him down, but I saw him visibly stiffen. She walked to the right side of the bed, opposite me.  
"It's almost dinner time. Your medication needs to be taken with food," she said to Laedin.  
"I'm not hungry," he replied bluntly.  
"It'll reduce the pain when they have to change the bandages," she added.  
"I'm not hungry," he repeated.  
"Just bring him a pudding cup or something," I interjected. Laedin huffed a little but didn't object. It seemed to surprise the nurse.  
"Um... Okay," she walked back out and returned a few moments later with a chocolate pudding cup and 2 pills. She tried handing it to Laedin, but he refused to pick it up.  
"Give it to me," I said, standing up and snatching it out of her hands. I tore off the lid, got a spoonful out, and put the pills on it.  
"Eat it." I held the spoon out to Laedin. He shook his head. "Eat. It. Now," I said, putting it closer to his face with each word. He shook his head again. I poked the wound on his belly.  
"Ow-" he started to yelp, but I crammed the spoon of pudding into his mouth and held it shut.  
"Swallow...swallow..." I said, rubbing his throat. "This is supposed to work on cats," I added. Finally, he swallowed. "It does work!" I exclaimed. "Now, do you want to eat the pudding yourself, or do I need to do that again?" I asked. He glared at me for a moment before he snatched the pudding out of my hand and began spooning it into his mouth. The nurse watched the proceedings with wide eyes and walked out without a word.  
"What's her problem?" Laedin asked irritatedly.  
"Who knows," I replied.  
"This is good pudding," Laedin said.  
I ruffled his hair. "I know."

And that is how things went for the week, until they said Laedin was well enough to be released. Over that week, Laedin and I grew very close (given, you kinda have to get to know someone when you're stuck in a room with them for 7 days). His enrollment went well, though I did have to transfer a few classes that month to help keep him and his frequent violent outbursts in check. I was basically the only one he would listen to. It wasn't his fault, though; he was constantly under verbal attack by the others, and he responded with physical were afraid of Laedin; afraid of his power. They taunted and mocked him, and occasionally me. We were a team of two, he and I. On the progress reports, Laedin had... 'Passable' grades, while I maintained a B+ average. There was one thing, however, that we excelled at: teamwork. No, not regular "teamwork," no, Laedin failed that. Team of two, remember? He and I were more in-sync than any of the other familiar-meister teams. We made the highest grade out of all, which was an object of great pride to us. At the end of the month, when the chill of fall finally entered the air, we all got mentors, 16 year olds who would be leaving to go to base in two years. Our mentors hated us, but we were fine with that. The feeling was mutual. We tried to avoid them as much as possible, but it wasn't like they cared. Through many hilarious(and sometimes near-fatal) misadventures, we somehow made it to the summer. We were both now 13 and a half. Summer was assessment time, as we knew. We did not know, however, how horribly this assessment would go.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
Jaya's POV

I was called to meet in a room with my human classmates. No familiars were allowed into the meeting. We were all curious as to why we were called in here, as most of us went everywhere with our familiars. Finally, the teacher spoke.  
"This assessment is special," he began, "because it is geared specifically toward the familiars. It will assess how well they could function if their meister was killed in battle; if they would continue fighting or break down and be killed as well."  
"Wait, wait, wait!" I exclaimed. "You're gonna kill us!?"  
"No, no," the teacher smiled and chuckled. "You will be put in a seemingly life-or-death situation, and with some clever makeup artists, we will make it seem as though you have died and assess your familiar's reaction."  
"Oh, good. I was worried there for a second." We all breathed a sigh of relief. A few more questions were asked concerning the battle part. We would be 'battling' a professional, so it wasn't very likely we would hurt him, but we could sustain some minor injuries. If the familiar broke down, the fighter would stop just before a death blow; if they continued to fight, they would assess if the style and intensity changed. And yes, every team had to go through this. After the stream of questions finally dried up, the teacher spoke up again.  
"As you know, the assessment is tomorrow. We just needed to tell you about the nature of this exam. You're free to go back to the dorms."

~~~~~ timeskip to right before assessment ~~~~~

All of us stood outside a fenced forest. The familiars were only told that they were going to fight a very strong opponent, and no shifting was allowed. Laedin was itching to get going.  
"When do we get to gooooo?" he whine-asked once again.  
"I've told you four times now Laedin," I said with a note of irritation creeping into my voice, "we go seventh. The sixth team just went, so we'll probably go in about 15 minutes."  
"But that's forever! " he complained loudly, earning us a few angry glares.  
"Be quiet!" I snapped angrily at him. "We'll go when we go! Now stop whining!" I normally wasn't very irritable, but I was nervous and the fake 'fatal' wound on my stomach itched. He crossed his arms and grumpily muttered "not whining."  
"Team seven!" The loud voice of the teacher surprised me and snapped Laedin out of his stupor.  
"Already?" I questioned, "It's only been, like, seven minutes." 'Must have been one of the ones that broke down,' I thought to myself as we walked through the gate into the woods. We walked exactly 10 steps before Laedin spoke.  
"So we just walk around until this guy attacks?" He asked.  
"I guess," I replied. At that moment, I felt something whiz by my face. We whirled to face the attacker, a man of about 20, standing on a branch about thirty feet away and fifty feet up in a tree, holding multiple throwing spikes in each hand. He smoothly turned and jumped to another branch, obviously wanting us to chase him deeper into the woods. We gladly obliged.  
There was something about Laedin and mine's fighting style that was strange. We used almost no dialogue. When we fight, we're completely in-tune with one another, absolutely sure of what to do so long as we see one another. Once we're out of each other's vision, we're all in our own. I think that the opponent knew this. As he led us deeper into the woods, he frequently aimed between us, not at us. After a few minutes of running, we suddenly lost sight of the man. With a quick glance around the small clearing, I reasoned that we must be somewhere in the middle of the woods. Laedin and I were in a defensive stance, backs to each other a few feet apart, on high alert.  
Suddenly, a dart aimed between us came whizzing out of the woods. We leapt in opposite directions as it burst into a pale purple fog that was most likely poisonous. As I skidded to a halt in front of a large tree, the man dropped down next to me and covered my mouth to muffle my shout as he smashed something into my stomach. I looked down and nearly panicked until I realized: it was fake blood. He held the burst bag out and smiled, all villainous traces gone from his face, and with a joking wink, he slashed his dagger through my shirt and jacket, revealing the extremely realistic fake wound. Now drenched with the warm fake blood, I collapsed on the ground in a heap and couldn't help but wink back at the young man, even though my stomach was churning. He grinned once more before resuming his role as the bad guy and leaping back into the trees.  
I lay there and pretended to be dead, my eyes open only enough to allow me a tiny field of vision. The fog was clearing, and I heard a voice ring out.  
"Jaya! Jaya, where are you?" Laedin was searching for me, jogging through the rapidly clearing smoke. I knew immediately when he saw me. His eyes widened, his mouth came open, and he stopped dead.  
"Oh, God," he breathed. Then he began sprinting full-speed towards me, eyes still wide with disbelief. He stopped right next to me, skidding to a halt and collapsing to his knees.  
"Jaya?" He asked pitifully. It nearly killed me to see him like this, to knowingly put him through this. "Jaya!" He spoke louder, coming closer to me.  
'Don't let your guard down, Laedin,' I prayed. 'Don't choke'  
"JAYA!" He screamed, shaking my shoulders, tears streaming down his face. From the sliver of vision I had, I saw the man in a tree on the other side of the clearing.  
'Turn around,' I prayed. Laedin stopped shaking me as a strangled sob erupted from his throat. On his face was the saddest expression I had ever seen. The man landed a few yards behind Laedin with a small tap. With that sound, Laedin blinked, and, with tears still flowing, his face slowly changed from utmost sorrow to the most primal and savage bloodlust I had ever seen.  
He stood and stumbled, turning to face the man, his arms hanging limply at his sides. He staggered for a moment, slumping, with his head hung low. He looked like a drunkard in an alley fight, and the scene might have been funny had it not been for the unmistakable savage rage on his face. The man looked surprised for a moment, and that moment was all Laedin needed. He lunged at the man with inhuman speed, successfully landing a hard punch to his stomach and, while he was recovering, somehow managed to get behind him. He grabbed the man's hair and yanked his head sideways, clawing his way onto his back. The man was panicking, not expecting this kind of strength from a young teen. He pulled his dagger and slashed at Laedin's arms, which were currently clawing deep gashes across his chest and back. The man cried out as Laedin bit down on his shoulder. He tried to reach him, but Laedin was still on his back, and he yanked on the man's hair again. This time, though, the man collapsed to the ground. Laedin shot out from under him and pinned him down, his clawed hand raised to slash the poor man's throat open.  
Suddenly, a thin, wiry, lasso-like object flew out of the woods and held Laedin's hand stationary. When he jerked around, more came from all angles out of the woods, wrapping around his arms, legs, ankles, wrists, and neck until he was half suspended, with his arms at odd angles above his head. He shrieked that same awful shriek as the day I summoned him, and I realized how animalistic he had become during the fight. The scale-like pattern on his skin was much more clearly defined, his fangs were long, and his hands had inch-long black claws.  
Four people rushed into the clearing from various angles and ran to the severely injured man, ignoring the struggling and screaming Laedin who was trying to escape the bonds. Soon, however, the screams went from rage to grief, and his struggling to simple squirming. Some paramedics rushed by him a few seconds later. By now he had stopped struggling, and was supported only by the wires. His cries were now just sobs. Another person walked by very close to Laedin, so close that he began shrieking and thrashing again, successfully slipping off the wires on his right arm and scratching the man. A person noticed and ran over to restrain him, grabbing his wrist and holding his arm behind him. Laedin screamed louder and tried to bite and claw the man, escaping one wire on his left arm and scratching at the man's face.  
Then I realized I still looked dead. I stood up and ran as fast as I could to my screaming, fighting familiar. As I got closer, I realized that he still had tears streaming down his face. Laedin never cried, never showed weakness. He must have been really torn up over the whole thing.  
"LAEDIN!" I yelled, reaching him. He jerked his head up and glared for a heartbeat before realizing it was me. He stopped struggling as I wrapped my arms around him.  
"It's fine! It's fine!" I repeated, pressing my face into his shoulder. "It's fine. I'm fine."  
"But-," He used his free arm to hold me out and examine me. "But-... but-..." He stared at the fake wound on my belly.  
"It's fake, it's fake! I'm fine, I promise!" I said, peeling the latex off my skin. "See? Fine!"  
He had a mix of emotions on his face, but he managed to choke out "Okay." He wrapped his arm around me again and, to my surprise, began crying again. Not just regular crying, though. Full-fledged, choking, body-shaking sobs. Someone cut the wires, and he wrapped me in a hug so tight I could barely breathe. After about a minute, Laedin had stopped crying and calmed down enough to let go of me. We walked a few steps toward the people that were gathered around the injured man before a person stopped us.  
"Head that way," he said, pointing. "It'll lead you to the forest exit. Your teacher and a few other people will be waiting."  
We turned and headed the way the man had pointed without question.  
"We're okay," I said to Laedin, walking next to him. "Let's go home."

Laedin's POV  
I saw the dart whiz out of the woods and dove out of the way as it exploded into purple smoke. I looked around quickly and realized that Jaya had gone the opposite direction of me. I paced for a few seconds, straining to hear anything. In about thirty seconds, the air was clear enough to see through, so I jogged to the center of the clearing.  
"Jaya!" I called, still jogging. No response. At that moment, I got a little worried. "Jaya, where are you?" Then I saw her, lying on the edge of the clearing, blood pooled around her. My stomach went to my feet.  
"Oh, God," I breathed. I sprinted over to her. With every footstep, I silently chanted 'she's not dead, she's not dead.'  
I skidded to a halt as I reached her. She had a huge gash across her stomach, and blood all over her shirt and the ground around her. My legs turned to jelly and I collapsed to my knees.  
"Jaya?" I said tentatively. She remained lifeless. "Jaya!" I repeated louder, stomach churning. Nothing. "JAYA!" I practically screamed, shaking her limp body by her shoulders. I felt the tears streaming down my face, but I didn't care. A sob escaped my throat and I stopped shaking her.  
'She's dead,' I thought. 'That man killed her.' I heard a small sound behind me. 'That man...' I felt a new emotion boil within me. Rage. He killed her. He would pay dearly.  
I could hardly stand. There was something besides uncontrollable rage churning within me, some insatiable hunger, some uncontrollable power. I staggered around to face the man and glared at him with razor thin pupils. He looked surprised for half a second, and I used that to my advantage. I moved faster than I had ever moved before, my fist making contact with his stomach. I swung myself around and yanked his head sideways, clawing my way onto his back. He slashed at my arms, but I could barely feel it over this rage, this bloodlust. I only wanted to cause this man pain. I clawed deep gashes wherever I could reach, mainly his back and chest. I was well aware that my fingernails were now long, black claws, that my teeth were hollow, razor sharp, and full of venom. I bit down on the man's shoulder, and he cried out. It felt good. I yanked his head sideways again and must have unbalanced him, because he fell backward on top of me. I shot out from under him and pinned him down, raising my hand to rip the man's throat open. Suddenly, a thin, wiry thing wrapped around my hand. I raised my other, and before I could react, more shot out from every angle of the woods, wrapping around every limb and holding me stationary.  
I shrieked and thrashed, tried to claw out of them, but they held fast. People rushed out of the woods and pulled the injured man away from me. I screamed again, though all the rage was gone from me. Jaya was dead, I was most likely going to be killed, and I hadn't even managed to exact my revenge. I didn't even have the willpower to fight the bonds anymore. I simply hung there, limp and sobbing. A few more people rushed past me as though I wasn't even there. I didn't even raise my head.  
Another person walked by close, snorting at me. It enraged me. Couldn't they just leave me to my grief? I managed to shift my arm enough to slip it out of the wires and scratch the man. He cried out and jumped away. Another noticed me and ran over, pulling my arm behind my back. I slipped off one of the wires on my other arm and scratched the man's face. Suddenly, I heard a voice.  
"Laedin!" I turned to glare at the person, but who I saw stopped me. It was Jaya, only a few feet away now, the gash still on her stomach. She wrapped he arms around me.  
"It's fine! It's fine!" She said, pressing her face into my shoulder. "It's fine. I'm fine."  
"But-," I used my free arm to hold her out and examine her. "But-... but-..." I stared at the wound on her belly.  
"It's fake, it's fake! I'm fine, I promise!" She said, peeling the wound off her skin. "See? Fine!"  
I was stunned for a moment.  
"Okay," I choked out as I wrapped my only free arm around her. Then the entire realization hit me: she was fine, she wasn't dead. I lost it at that point. I broke down and really sobbed. I never cried. Someone cut the ropes and I wrapped her in a hug. I finally got myself together enough to shut up and let go of her, and we took a few steps toward the injured man. However, another man stopped us and pointed the way out. We turned without question.  
"We're okay," Jaya said quietly, walking next to me. "Let's go home."

That was the first major incident. Luckily, the man survived, though he had to get 287 stitches and 7 doses of antivenin. Unluckily, however, the exams had to be postponed until the next day because they had to find a replacement. Soon, everyone had put the pieces together: I go into the forest, and a nearly dead man comes out with me. They we even more afraid of me then. Jaya and I hung out by ourselves when we could, away from our cruel mentors and the angry glares and taunts of the others. Usually we stayed in our room or sat in the old oak tree on the far end of school grounds. Even the people in the town heard about me; every Saturday when we were allowed to go, they would point and whisper at me. I would hiss at them and expose my fangs when they were especially rude. That definitely shut them up. That fall, two weeks after we turned 14, our mentors finally left. For most, it was a tearful and heartfelt goodbye. Jaya and I drank an entire two liter of root beer to celebrate. The next two years passed rather quietly. When the next batch of twelve year olds arrived that summer, the older ones wasted no time in terrifying them with tales of monsters, summonings gone wrong, and me. Oh, yeah. Definitely me. Soon, summer came, and the soon-to-be meisters reached the summoning day. Us older ones weren't technically 'allowed' to watch the summonings, but we did anyway. Hiding in trees, on top of buildings, or just watching out windows. The summonings went without incident. Then, they began to worry. Who would get me as a mentor? The prospect terrified them more than tale of the deranged clown that lived in the fenced forest. (In Bozo's defense, he isn't deranged. Just confused.) And this is where the real story begins.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
Jaya's POV  
"I hate children. I hate them so much," I said to Laedin on the way to receive our apprentices. "What with their squeaky voices and energy and Ug! I just can't stand them!" Laedin wisely chose to keep quiet. Of course, my bad mood wasn't due only to the fact that we would be in charge of a couple of brats for two years, though that was a large part of it. First off, Laedin set the alarm for five in the morning just to mess with me. Next, I realized that we had eaten all the cereal last night at eleven o'clock. Then, I found out that Laedin had left the milk out for two days. Then, I realized that it was five in the morning and beat Laedin with the jug of spoiled milk. Basically, it was an average day for us. Until we woke up late and realized that the apprentice thing started in ten minutes. We barely had time to get dressed and out the door, never mind anything else.  
Which brings us to this: Laedin and I running our legs off to get to the building that was on the complete other side of the school grounds while brushing our hair and teeth. We reached the building with exactly no time to spare, threw the brushes behind a hedge, and burst in the door. Luckily, it hadn't started yet. They were still working on lining the familiar-meister teams up. We fast-walked over to the other sixteen year olds and stood as if nothing had happened. We earned nothing more than a few growls and glares from them, which was a win in my book. In a few seconds, they began calling out the teams and their mentors.  
"Domaria and Rhen!" A snooty looking girl with brown hair and a boy bright green hair stepped forward. "Your mentors will be Fen and Umbra." They walked to the door that led to the large adjacent room and were out of sight. Great. The line of snooty bullies will be carried on. Whoop dee do. Next, please. I started counting the dots on the tile at my feet and all I heard after that was "so-and-so, your mentors are so-and-so." I probably should have been paying more attention because the next thing I know I hear "...your mentors will be Laedin and Jaya!"  
...dead silence.  
I looked up quickly and walked to the door with Laedin, our new apprentices trailing far behind us.  
"What are their names?" I whispered to Laedin.  
"Like I know!" He replied. We came to a stop in the center of the small room lined with doors. No one else was there except for the overly-cheerful lady that guided us to a door that led to a room with a table and four chairs. Then I remembered our apprenticeship four years ago. They lock you in a room with your mentors for an hour to "get to know them". It's the stupidest idea ever. We ended up getting yelled at and cussed for forty five minutes, fist fighting for ten, and huddling in an emo corner for the last five. It was highly traumatizing.  
"You'll be let out in an hour!" The lady cheerfully said as she locked the door and went to greet the next people.  
I grabbed a chair and plopped down in it, balancing on the back two legs and propping my feet on the table. Laedin turned his chair backwards and sat with his legs wrapped around the back and his arms slung lazily across the top. Our apprentices remained standing. I took the opportunity to take a good look at them. The boy had short, scruffy brown hair, deep brown eyes, and an extremely pissed off expression. The girl had long, straight brown hair, violet eyes, and seemed pretty timid and shy due to the scared expression and lack of eye contact.  
We sat in awkward silence for a moment before Laedin spoke up.  
"What are your names, again?"  
The boy glared at him. "You don't even know our names? I can't believe we got you as our mentors. I'd rather have the deranged clown!"  
"Hey! First of all, we're awesome," I spoke up, "and second, that clown is just confused!" Laedin stood up.  
"Take a step toward me and I'll..." The boy paused. "I'll cut your throat!"  
"Oh, well," Laedin replied calmly, slightly turning away, "in that case I guess I'll just- RAAAWWRR!" He turned back quickly and screamed at them. The boy flinched and the girl jumped back, stumbled, and hit the ground.  
"Hahaha!" Laedin cackled. "I totally got you guys!" He laughed. I smacked his arm.  
"That wasn't nice!" I said.  
"I know, I know," he said, still laughing, "but it was hilarious!"  
I looked over and saw the girl on the floor, sniffling and wiping tears out of her eyes.  
"Look what you did, Laedin!" I said, pointing. "You made her cry!"  
"What? Oh, jazz." He rushed over and awkwardly stood. "I'm sorry! Please don't cry little... Female child."  
"Get away!" the boy shouted angrily.  
"I said I was sorry!" Laedin shouted back.  
"I don't care!"  
"Well excuse me for trying to help!"  
As they argued, I went over to the girl. She was still sniffling.  
"I'm sorry Laedin scared you," I said. "Are you alright?"  
"Mm-hmm," she nodded. "He wasn't gonna hurt me?"  
"Laedin? 'Course not!" I scoffed. I helped her up. Laedin and the boy were still arguing. I decided it was my moral duty to stop them.  
"Stop it!" I shouted. "You're behaving like children!" Both turned away and put on pouty faces.  
"He started it," Laedin grumbled.  
"I don't care! Stop arguing!" I grabbed his ear and dragged him to our side of the table. "We're supposed to be bonding! Now sit down and shut up!" I practically threw him onto his seat.  
"Ow!" He exclaimed, rubbing his ear. "Why are you so mean to me?"  
"I'm not mean. End of discussion." I turned to the kids. "Now, what were your names?"  
The grumpy boy spoke up. "I'm Runo. She's Dimere."  
"I'm guessing Dimere is the familiar," Laedin said.  
"Yes," she quietly responded. She shifted into a small brown wolf with owl-like wings.  
"Pretty impressive," I commended her, smiling. "Laedin?" I turned to him.  
"Nice. One of the few ones with natural colors," he said.  
"Thank you," she responded, looking down. Man, we really got a shy one.  
"Care to see Laedin?" I asked. They looked nervously at one another, and Dimere's tail tucked between her legs a bit.  
"No, that's fine," the boy replied quickly, looking away. That was the main thing that tipped me off. I stood, put my hands on the table, and looked at them.  
"What kind of stories have the older ones been telling you?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
Jaya's POV  
They turned away and Dimere shifted back. Neither responded.  
"Well?" I pressured them. Dimere kept looking at the floor, but Runo shifted his gaze to me briefly before studying the ceiling.  
"Well, it's just..." He began, but then sighed. He scratched the back of his head. "They told us about when he was summoned, how he attacked everyone," he admitted. "And also how he almost killed that guy during the exams when he was only thirteen." Then, miraculously, Dimere spoke up.  
"Also, they told us how he always attacked people for no reason, and to stay away from him or he might hurt us," she said quietly. "He's scary."  
I looked over at Laedin. He had a disgusted expression on his face.  
I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Show them."  
He gave me a small smile and smoothly shifted into one of his smaller forms, only about four feet long, and slithered around my arm, behind my neck, and down my other arm, resting his head on my outstretched hand. The kids were backed against the wall, fearfully eyeing him. I lowered my hand to the table, and he slithered onto the smooth wooden surface, loosely coiling up in the center. His snake form was similar to a python, though with rough, silver, rattlesnake-like scales and head. He looked at them with his stunningly blue eyes.  
And, of course, he had to yawn. His mouth opened and revealed his sharp, white, long fangs. Their eyes widened and Dimere whimpered, shrinking slightly in the corner, and Runo pressed himself as much as he could against the wall, eyes full of fear. He sighed and I held my hand out to him again. He slithered around my arm, up to my shoulder, the tip of his tail curled around my wrist.  
"Can I stay here?" He asked. "You're warm." I replied by patting his head. The apprentices looked shocked. Luckily, at that moment, the door opened, revealing my favorite teacher, Mr. Kyle. Mr. Kyle was in his mid-twenties, way younger that the other teachers, and completely cracktastic. He taught hand to hand combat (my favorite subject), was hilarious, and was always nice to me and Laedin.  
"Yo Mr. K," Laedin called from his perch on my arm.  
"'Sup you guys?" He waltzed in. "Well, they told me to let you out early, so...," He paused. "Let's go," he turned and walked out the door, beckoning for us to follow.  
"So, as you know," Mr. Kyle began as we walked back toward the dorms, "your rooms will now be next to your mentors'." He was now walking backward so he could look at us. "It's joined by two doors, one that can be locked from your side," he waved in the general direction of Runo and Dimere, "and one that can be locked from your side," he waved toward me and Laedin. "Sorta like a hotel!" Dimere looked mildly interested, but Runo continued sulking at the ground, hands in the pockets of his blue hoodie."Hey! We're here!" Mr. K exclaimed as we stepped into the dorm building and Laedin shifted back and dropped off my arm. "Well... I have to go... Ummm... Food," and with that, he heft us standing awkwardly in the narrow hallway. The silence was broken by Laedin's rumbling stomach. I glared at him.

"What?" He smiled sheepishly. "I didn't have breakfast!" I was aware of the emptiness of my own stomach, too.  
"Well, standing here isn't getting any food in our bellies," I began walking to the farthest wing of the building, where our rooms were located. Laedin jabbered away to the apprentices. He's quiet in public, but in private, he wouldn't shut up to save his life.  
"Yeah, it's pretty great. We get, like, an entire wing of the building to ourselves. We're really good with money, too. Plus we scrounge every cent we can find And we even managed to buy an extra dresser for food (a cabinet was too expensive) oh and did you know they supply you with a mini fridge? And we have Guitar Hero, a coffee table, a tv but no cable, and we even managed to con the maintenance man to help us turn the beds into bunk beds! Yeah, I'd say we probably have the best room on the whole scho-"  
"Here we are!" I interrupted Laedin as I unlocked the door to our room. It was pretty much the way Laedin had described it, except with more crap. There was an empty box of cereal from last night on the floor, cheese puffs scattered on the coffee table, random posters strung up around the room, and Guitar Hero was paused in the middle of "Eye of the Tiger." Just how we liked it.  
"That's your room," I pointed to the doorway that led into a stark room, much like how ours was when we first moved in. Their suitcases were already in the room.  
"Well, we'll leave you guys to get settled," I said pushing them into their room. "Our door is always open!"  
_Slam_!  
"But apparently yours is not," I added, turning away. Laedin was already rummaging through the food dresser (like he said, we couldn't afford cabinets).  
"Joo vant amyfing?" He asked through a mouthful of an unidentified substance that I hoped was edible, a mountain of food held in his arms.  
"Sure," I grabbed an apple and a box of Crackerjack and plopped on my bed, the bottom bunk, as Laedin easily jumped to the top. I heard lots of rustling as he adjusted the piles of random objects on his bed to find a suitable space to sit. We ate silently for a moment.  
"Still hate kids?"  
"Mostly, Laedin. Mostly."


End file.
